March 2017 Issue 7

Poplar Bank News

We are a Respectful and Caring School

Upcoming Events

March 1 Writing Workshop (Grade 7 & 8)

March 13-17 March Break

March 17 St. Patrick’s Day

March 20 Sibbald Point Outdoor Education Centre

(Grade 4)

March 22 Music Alive (Advance Band)

March 28 Earth Hour

March 31 Music Alive (Calixa)

Daylight Savings Time

Principal: Natasha Baage Phone Number: 905-953-8995

Admin Assistant: Lana Grigorovich Superintendent: Dianne Hawkins

Secretary: Diana Hogan Trustee: Martin Van Beek

www.poplarbank.ps.yrdsb.edu.on.ca

School Improvement Plan

For Student Achievement and Well Being

Respectful School, Modern Learning, Math and

Mental Health

The date for Daylight Saving Time spring for-

ward 2017 when we turn our clocks one hour

ahead is coming soon, meaning we will get an

extra hour of daylight at the end of the day.

Don’t forget to change your clocks on March 12,

2017 at 2 a.m.

Page 2

Message from our Trustee

With spring approaching and the hours of daylight increasing, now is a good time to enjoy

the outdoors and our natural environment. Did you know that our Board has five outdoor

education centres, and students have opportunities to visit them and other outdoor learning

spaces throughout their schooling? This is part of our commitment to giving students an op-

portunity to learn in and about the natural world. This learning supports students in gain-

ing a deeper appreciation for nature and the importance of environmental sustainability.

“Modelling continuous environmental sustainability” is one of the goals outlined in our

Board of Trustees’ Multi-Year Plan. We believe that we all have a role to play in reducing

waste and protecting our environment. Our students, staff members and families continue

to show leadership when it comes to supporting student learning and initiatives to reduce

our ecological footprint.

Spending time outside as a family also provides a great opportunity to support and enhance

your child’s learning outside of school. Whether visiting a park or museum, reading with

your child in your home language or asking questions about their day at school - know that

there are many ways you can support their education and that you are making a difference.

I hope you all have a happy and safe March Break and enjoy the warmer weather ahead.

Thank you to everyone who attended our first meeting to kick

start the planning process!

This year, the Fun Festival will be held on Thursday June 8, 2017.

But before the big day, there is a lot of work to do. That is why we

are asking for new adult volunteers who are parents or family

relatives to lend us their time and energy.

There are so many ways that adult volunteers can help. Starting

soon, we will need help with making donation requests to local

businesses that have generously contributed to our event before.

We will also require assistance with collecting and packaging ap-

proximately 2,000 small prizes.

Your help is especially needed during the week of the Fun Festival and on the event day to help su-

pervise the Theme Basket Raffles, Inflatables, Midway Games, Used Book Sale, Silent Auction,

Penny Raffle and many other activities.

If you can commit even just a few hours of time, please contact Julie Song Fun Festival Coordinator

by phone or text at 416-648-2479.

Fun Festival

Page 3

Spring Provincial Testing Update: EQAO In a few short months, our grade 3 and grade 6 students will take part

in the provincial EQAO testing. Students in grade 3 French Immer-

sion write only the Mathematics subtest, which is given in French.

Students in grade 6 complete three subsets, namely reading, writing

and Math in English. For parents interested in finding out more

about the EQAO tests, please visit the website at http://

www.eqao.com. Our Grade 3 and 6 students will take part in the test-

ing between May 24th to June 1st. If possible, please avoid taking vacations or booking ap-

pointments for your child during this time frame.

Our Eco-Team is excited about our latest initiative to

collect milk bags to make mattresses for people in

need. We are teaming up with a local retirement

home that will reuse the bags by weaving them into

mattresses that are water-proof, bug-proof and easy

to clean. There will be a prize for the class that col-

lects the most bags. Students are asked to hand in

their bags to the Eco-Ambassador for their classroom. For more information on this initia-

tive check out: CTV Toronto: Milk bags to mattresses

We continue to collect poptabs to be reused as material to make wheel-

chairs, and room 116 collects used markers to be recycled.

The school will be celebrating Earth Hour on Tuesday

March 28th, with our annual “Lights Out” Campaign.

Everyone is invited to celebrate the day at home on the of-

ficial day of Saturday March 25th from 8-9pm. For more

information and to sign up please check out:

www.earthhour.org

Eco News - Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

We had a successful Friendship Week

from February 13th to 17th to promote

Valentine's Day and Healthy Schools

Mental Health Initiatives. Fun activities

were conducted in classes, and the

Healthy Schools Team organized some

Stress Relievers throughout the

month! Let's beat the "winter blues"!

Friendship Week

Page 4

Library - Role of Government and Responsible Citizenship

As part of the grade 5 Social Studies unit about the Role of Government and Responsible

Citizenship, Christina Bisanz, the Newmarket Councillor for Ward 7, came to Poplar Bank

and did a presentation for the students on February 13th.

What follows is some of their feedback:

We learned about the 3 levels of government (federal,

provincial, regional/municipal) and their responsibili-

ties.

Being a councilor is a part-time job. You can be

elected if you are 18 and a Canadian citizen. Munici-

pal elections are every 4 years in October, and the

next election is in 2018.

Everything that goes on in Newmarket has to be ap-

proved by the majority of the 9 members of Council

(the mayor, regional councilor who is also the deputy

mayor, and the councilors for each of the 7 wards).

Christina Bisanz talked about Newmarket and espe-

cially Ward 7, and the changes that were made over the years, and future changes.

We heard about trying to keep some green space in Newmarket, bike lanes, bus

lanes, the Town Hall on Mulock, the Old Town Hall repairs, Riverwalk Commons,

community events like “Touch A Truck”, bylaws for trailers and boats in a driveway,

and that there is going to be a new trail from Lake Simcoe to Lake Ontario!

She prepared a very nice presentation that was well-organized, and she was very pa-

tient with us. I liked her slideshow. She told us about how building houses affects the

environment and animal habitats.

Many of the changes that are happening now are for our future.

We prepared questions for her before she came, and she answered all our questions

and explained everything very well.

I was really happy that I could ask my questions and get them answered.

She was very interactive with the students.

She was part of Student Council when she was in school. She encouraged me to be a

politician when I am older.

Thanks for the bracelet and the Community Report!

Thanks for coming! I think you should stay councilor, and if I was allowed to vote, I

would vote for you.

I want to thank her for coming and sharing what is in the real world.

Our boys played in the Area’s tournament on February 15th and went undefeated until the

finals where they lost by one basket! Good try boys! They also played in the Denison Hus-

kies Tournament on February 1st and they

went undefeated here to finish first! A great

season with great talent!

Page 5

Speech and Language Program

Senior Boys’ Basketball

Senior Girls’ Basketball

Congratulations to the Intermediate Girls

Basketball Team who played in the Area

Tournament at Phoebe Gilman on February

14th. They played very well and had some

very close games! The girls also proved their skills at the Denison Huskies Tournament on

January 31st finishing in 2nd place! Way to go Abigail, Emery, Hailey, Angelina, Av-

gustina, Maia, Maya, Caroline, Olivia, and Alejandra! Coach Sampson is proud of your ef-

forts!

The Junior Boys and Girls Basketball teams will be getting started soon. Good luck to eve-

ryone at try-outs! Thank you Mme Hodge for coaching the girls and to Mr. Korman for

coaching the boys.

Junior Basketball

The Summer Fluency Program

Dates: July 10th – 28th, 2017 (Mondays through Fridays)

Location: 2-150 Duncan Mill Rd (Don Mills & York Mills Rd.)

Times: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Fee: $1600

SPACE IS LIMITED! If you have any questions, and to book an

assessment, please contact Lea J. Ayuyao, Speech-Language

Pathologist, (416) 491-7771 ext. 220,

leaa@speechandstuttering.com

The Speech & Stuttering Institute is a registered charitable

organization dedicated to:

The development and delivery of speech therapy programs

Supporting research into better treatment methods

Providing education in communication disorders

THE SUMMER FLUENCY PROGRAM is made possible in part due to the generous sup-

port of the RBC Foundation.

Music

Page 6

Music ensembles at Poplar Bank are in full swing! Chil-

dren are all working very hard at preparing for the upcom-

ing music festivals.

“Music Alive” is a local music festival where students have

the opportunity to perform for other schools and hear other

schools perform. I am very excited to demonstrate the musical excellence of the students

at Poplar Bank. Parents are invited and encouraged to come and watch the performances.

For each ensemble, the performance attire is the black music t-shirt, black/dark bot-

toms and black/dark shoes.

Poplar Bank’s annual “Focus on Festivals” music concert will take place on Thurday,

May 4th in the gym from 6:30-8:00 pm. The following groups will be performing: Grade 4

recorders, Junior/Intermediate Choir, Junior Band, Advanced Band and Calixa Lavallee.

The Advanced Band will be performing in Niagara Falls in the MUSICFEST NATION-

ALS competition on Wednesday, May 17th. How exciting!!!

Thank you for supporting the music department’s popcorn

sales.

Musically Yours,

Mme Smith

“Music is the universal language of mankind”-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Group Date Location Time

Advanced Band Wednesday, March 22nd Newmarket Theatre

505 Pickering Crescent

(Attached to Newmarket High School)

9:30 am

Calixa Lavallee Friday, March 31st Cosmo Music

10 Via Renzo Drive

Richmond Hill, ON

9:30 am

Primary Choir Thursday, April 6th Cosmo Music

10 Via Renzo Drive

Richmond Hill, ON

9:30 am

Junior Band Monday, April 10th Newmarket Theatre

505 Pickering Crescent

(Attached to Newmarket High School)

9:30 am

Junior/ Intermediate

Choir

Wednesday, April 12th YCDSB Centre for the Performing

Arts

525 Westminister Drive

Thornhill, ON

10:15 am

Page 7

Year Book 2016/2017

This year is another milestone for Poplar Bank. We are still growing

strong as a French Immersion community. We will be having our SIXTH

full-colour (80-page) yearbook, worth $26 dollars (taxes included). We

want to recognize all that we have experienced as a community at Pop-

lar Bank. Share in the moments in this remarkable time capsule of the

events and people that made this year unique!!!

PBPS families will be able to purchase a yearbook using only SchoolCashOnline.com. If you

order your copy of the book by March 10th (before March Break), your child’s name will be

added to our school’s YEARBOOK DRAW in order to win a FREE YEARBOOK.

For families wishing to sponsor a page, please add $5.00 to the initial price. For advertising,

please submit a business card (to Mme McDonald) with an extra fee of $15.00. Thank you, in

advance, for your support!

REMINDER SchoolCashOnline.com will be the only method of payment

Year Book Cover Contest

Goal: To create a colourful piece of artwork that will be selected to be in the FRONT COVER of

this year’s yearbook (a total of 58 colourful artworks in all). Up to 5 artworks will be selected

from each homeroom. First Place Winner also gets a FREE YEARBOOK!

What you need to do…

To enter our contest, you need to have the following on a white sheet (8 ½ X 11) of paper

(portrait side only):

The French logo (BIGGEST): Ensemble, nous sommes UNIS

The English logo (smallest): Together We Are One

P.B.P.S. or Poplar Bank P.S. or Poplar Bank Pub-

lic School

2016-2017

Symbols / drawings reflecting ideas that unify us as

a school (i.e., families, communities, friends, clubs,

teams, etc.)

IN COLOUR, erase all pencil marks

Use dark, VIBRANT colours, instead of pale, light

colours

Clear, LARGE, thick lettering (preferably center

logos on page)

School mascott (optional) – lion or lion’s paw

Name (first and last) & grade in bottom right corner (in black pen, not in sharpie or in pen-

cil)

Page 8

School Council Update

PIZZA LUNCH CO-ORDINATOR

NEEDED! We are continuing to search for

a pizza lunch co-ordinator! We have had

one parent volunteer come forward (thank

you!!), but they are only able to commit to

every other Thursday. Therefore, we are

looking for an additional parent who can

commit to helping on the alternating Thurs-

day (twice a month). There will be two of you, and you will work as a team and share

the load. We don’t want to lose our pizza lunch option! Please contact the school or

Marcela for details marceladiazgr@gmail.com.

Parent Talk Series – Poplar Bank, along with seven other community schools, and

Bully Free Community Alliance have put together six engaging and interesting pres-

entations for parents. The next Parent Talk is on March 22nd from 7 to 8 p.m. at

Stonehaven P.S. The topic is Social Media Fitness for Parents. Please visit

www.eventbrite.com, search for events in Newmarket, for more information and to

register.

We’re on Facebook!! https://www.facebook.com/PoplarBankPS. Feedback from par-

ents indicates that many parents have not joined Twitter yet, but many are using

Facebook. As a result, we have created a Poplar Bank Facebook page to share infor-

mation with our school community. Please like our page to keep up to date on school

activities. https://www.facebook.com/PoplarBankPS

The first Fun Festival Planning meeting was held on Thursday, February 23rd. Lots

of exciting things planned! It takes a village to run this fantastic event for our school

community and we need volunteers, so please contact the Fun Festival Coordinator,

Julie Song, by phone or text at 416-648-2479.

Our next meeting has been rescheduled to March 8th, 2017 at 6:45 p.m. in the staff

room. We have rescheduled the meeting so we do not conflict with the Parent Talk

Series being held on March 22nd. All parents are welcome to attend council meetings!

We will be providing child care in an adjacent

room for those who require it. Please let us

know in advance if you will be attending, and

the ages and number of children who need

minding.

Page 9

Student Athletic Achievements

At this time we would like to acknowledge some of our students who have dedicated many

hours and have worked extremely hard at their sport.

Congratulations to Megan and Alison who have just returned from the Nationals Competi-

tion in Vancouver, British Columbia for Indoor Rock Climbing!

Congratulations Ariana for placing 2nd overall and Zoe for placing

6th at the girls’ gymnastics competition which took place in Orlando,

Florida. The Poplar Bank Community wishes these girls luck in the

upcoming Provincial Qualifiers.

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, study-

ing, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to

do.” Pele

Kiss & Ride

A reminder to all parents that the Kiss & Ride Loop is

to be used solely for the dropping off or picking up of

students. Please do not park your car in the loop as this

creates traffic congestion.

As well, for the safety of all students, it is encouraged

that students exit the vehicle from the side closest to

the sidewalk and not oncoming traffic.

School Attendance

This is a reminder that the school

day starts at 8:05 a.m. Please note

that the early entry bell rings at

7:55 a.m. Students are expected to

be in their classrooms for 8:05 a.m.

when instruction begins. Students

who enter the classroom after 8:05

am are considered late.

Punctuality is very important to school routines and student success!